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Strolling into Victoria’s Distinguished Past

Exploring B. C.’s Historic Capital

By Rick Millikan

British Columbia’s capital exudes old world charm, proud traditions and extraordinary history. Its natural beauty, mild climate and pleasant compactness make walking the perfect way to explore Victoria’s intriguing past.

Staying at the elegant Gatsby Mansion, we were hot to trot. Furnished and decorated with antiques, our room resonated with history. Its window framed the inner harbour and two of Francis Rattenbury’s many extravagant structures. Now housing the Royal London Waxworks, the old C.P.R. Steamship Terminal resembled a Greek temple. Blanketed with glorious green ivy, the chateau-style Empress Hotel embodies subdued elegance.  Built on reclaimed swampland in 1908, it offers hundred year-old traditions: rose garden lingers, high tea rituals and tall, cool drinks in the Bengal Room.

The imposing B.C. Legislative Building sprawls along the next block. Complete with copper domes, a gilded George Vancouver atop the cupola and Greco-Roman central fountain, this ornate home of government emanates imperial dreams of the 19th century. Arriving from Britain at age 25, Rattenbury completed this commanding stone edifice in 1897 and became Victoria’s most influential architect. Behind, he added an Edwardian baroque Parliamentary Library akin to a vast mausoleum.  Statues of provincial explorers and administrators rest in niches on columned facades, so many that an explanatory plaque was installed outside to identify them. Medallions of Shakespeare, Milton and other classical scribes surround the walls.

On expansive lawns in front, a bronze Queen Victoria gazes over the harbour. Over a century ago early electric lights outlined the emerging legislative building to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.  Now an evening tradition, over three thousand lights adorn this majestic structure. From the corner, since 1903 horse drawn carriages have provided tours into its distinguished neighborhoods and famed park.

James Bay represents the city’s oldest residential area. The gingerbread heritage homes are colourfully restored. Emily Carr, Victoria’s distinguished eccentric and B.C.’s most famous artist-writer was born in this neighbourhood. Educated in San Francisco and Paris, the perennial “hippie” philosophized about life and dramatically painted the soul of B.C.’s rainforest.  Her home is open to the public.

In 1850, Colonial governor James Douglas established bordering Beacon Hill Park, named for beacons that guided early ships into the harbour. In 1888, John Blair, a Scottish landscape designer, tidied up nature providing the park’s leafy carriage ways, ornamental fountains, artificial lakes and 18th century landscape gardens typical of English manors.

Walking back along the sea wall, we noted plaques describing the tall ships once choking Inner Harbour awaiting monthly exports such as millions of cans of salmon. Today, buskers, crafters and pleasure boats fill the area with lively activity.

The 1843 Fort Victoria’s stockade once stood above the inner harbor’s causeway. Hudson Bay Company agent James Douglas built the fort establishing British presence in the northwest. H.B.C. employees and native chiefs are named on bricks paving the entry into today’s Bastion Square.  The adjacent “castle” boasts a chateau roof, parapets, stonework friezes and gargoyles spouting rainwater. Once the fanciful Bank of Montreal, Rattenbury’s design deviated from somber, secure looking banks of its era. Within the square illustrious Judge Mathew Begbie interpreted British law in the Old Courthouse constructed in 1899.  He sentenced scoundrels to wear a noose at the hanging tree.  Many ghosts are said to haunt the square.

As often frontier streets became muddy nightmares, pioneer businessman Mr. Waddington paved a still existing alley with wooden bricks from Fort Street to Market Square. In this heart of old town, sailors, miners, “tarnished doves”, natives and Chinese merchants once worked and played. Now nine heritage buildings encompass Market Square’s three stories of shops and restaurants overlooking a central courtyard employed for special events.

A block eastward, Canada’s oldest Chinatown reflects early Chinese settlement.  Tiled eaves and a pagoda roof embellish the Chinese Imperial School.  Lee’s Benevolent Association Building presents Portuguese colonial gables and Romanesque arches with Chinese tile-work. Fan Tan Alley is Canada’s narrowest commercial alley. Gates and watchmen once thwarted police raids into this enclave of brothels, gambling centers and opium dens patronized, but never acknowledged.

On Government Street we love Roger’s Chocolates, an ideal period shop with stained glass and rich wood interior. A vintage clock still measures time in the corner. The famous candy couple once lived upstairs; Mr. Rogers was often seen in the kitchen wearing long johns while stirring his secret recipe for chocolate creams, sometimes visiting the bank in the same attire.

Crystal Gardens stand east of the Empress. Here, in 1925 Rattenbury imitated seaside winter gardens of his youth and created a heated salt-water pool facility of steel and glass, complete with tearooms, wicker chairs and chirping birds.

Across the street a pathway leads past Thunderbird Park native totems to Doctor Helmcken’s House, B.C.’s oldest preserved home.  Herbal gardens recreate his source of early medicines.  Inside, audio taped portrayals of family members conduct tours laced with frontier anecdotes. Next door stands St. Ann’s Schoolhouse. A small group of Montreal nuns taught in this two-room log school playing a pivotal role in the city’s early educational life.

Once a pathway to vegetable gardens, Fort Street developed into Antique Row, full of eclectic shops offering coins, stamps, clocks, retro furniture, and intriguing collectibles.  After a good time browsing through windows, we entered Victoria’s most prestigious neighborhood. We often visit Victoria Art Gallery. Built for banker Alexander Green, the Italianate villa temporarily housed the Lt. Governor. Craigdorrah Castle perches on the hill above. Conical turrets, chateau-style slate roof, decorative wrought iron and tall chimneys are reminiscent of Tudor England. Coal baron Robert Dunsmuir built this four-story mansion for $500,000 in 1889.  The glowing hardwood paneling, magnificent hand carved stairways, Italian leaded glass and period furnishings dazzle visitors. Rambling through its restored rooms, we could visualize the elegant lifestyle of the Dunsmuirs. Rattenbury constructed the Lt. Governor’s residence nearby. Later rebuilt reflecting his initial design, Government House features the original carriage entry.  Its extensive gardens are open to the public.

Below lies Ross Bay Cemetery, named for Hudson Bay Company’s chief factor Charles Ross, who supervised the construction of Fort Victoria.  Serving as a richly endowed botanical and contemplative garden, Ross Bay Cemetery celebrates the lives of early British Columbians.

Picturesque treed avenues, mausoleums, granite pedestals and epitaphs echo the sanctimony of the times. Even final resting places were conferred along class lines. Arriving in black hearses drawn by plumed horses, Victoria’s elite were interred high on the hill. Below lie natives and Chinese in humble marked graves.

Pioneers, premiers, Lieutenant Governors, Hudson Bay Company employees, Sisters of St. Ann and military men repose in this characteristic 19th century necropolis. A map helped us locate William Pendray, Judge Begbie, and other B.C. luminaries. Enclosed with cast iron fencing, Sir James Douglas, the “father of B.C.” reposes under a giant red granite memorial topped with a Celtic cross.  Steps away under an epitaph strewn with floral tributes, Emily Carr rests living on in the hearts of Canadians.

Francis Rattenbury is conspicuously absent. Meeting a young wartime heroine who taught piano in James Bay, “Ratz” was bewitched.  Divorcing his first wife in 1925, he married Alma Parkenham. He dodged the scandal, retiring to England. Perhaps the romanticism found elegantly in his projects was unsustainable in matrimony. His second marriage ended ten years later, when Alma and their chauffeur became lovers, who murdered Rattenbury. “Ratz” was buried in an English graveyard.

Immediately red, double-decker buses, flower clad lampposts and old-world design reflect Victoria’s heritage. Exploring its vintage streets and structures over two pleasant days, our walks uncovered tantalizing facets of our capital’s rich legacy. 

When you go:

Historic Tours: Bordering the inner harbor on Douglas Street Victoria’s Visitor Info Bureau www.travel-victoria.com provides self-guided maps for James Bay and Ross Bay Cemetery and arranges a Ghostly Tours www.discoverthepast.com Unique guided walking adventures can also be booked here.  Across the street, the Empress Hotel www.fairmont.com/empress provides guided tours www.walkabouts.ca into its own venerable past. Nearby Victoria Carriage Tours www.victoriacarriage.com regularly loop through Beacon Hill Park and James Bay heritage neighborhood. On the edge of Victoria the Dunsmuirs, early B. C. coal barons, created two regal residences: Craigdarroch Castle www.thecastle.ca and Hatley Castle www.hatleypark.ca that are well worth exploring.

Museums: At Royal British Columbia Museum www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca visitors may walk through 300 years of B.C. History. In Bastion Square, the Maritime Museum of British Columbia www.mmbc.bc.ca reflects not only a rich coastal heritage, but also houses North America’s oldest operating birdcage elevator and “Hanging” Judge Begbie’s courtroom. Hundred-year old Point Ellice House www.pointellicehouse.ca is a scenic Harbor Ferry ride away. An audio taped rendition of their Chinese houseboy, Irish maid and Scottish gardener lead visitors through this authentically restored home.

Venerable Digs: Oak Bay Beach Hotel www.oakbaybeachhotel.com offers suites reflecting turn of the century Victoria. Its free shuttles and mountain bikes conveniently access the heart of the old capital. Bordering China Town, Swans Suite Hotel & Brewpub www.swanshotel.com was the first, and to me remains the most beautiful restored building in old Victoria.  Perched above Inner Harbor, William Joseph Pendray’s 1897 Gatsby Mansion www.gatsbymansion.com  boasts crystal chandeliers, stained glass windows, hand-frescoed ceilings, rich wood paneling and twenty Victorian style bedrooms furnished in antique. Two blocks away long replacing Pendray’s old soap factory, a modern Laurel Point Inn www.laurelpoint.com stretches around a harbor side parkway.

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